'Poor man's meal' from Depression era has people fondly remembering the late Grandma who shared it

The Great Depression was one of the toughest economic periods of modern history, spanning 1929 to 1939 and the advent of the Second World War.

Economic turmoil created high rates of joblessness, poverty, and the collapse of banks and businesses. It began with a US stock market crash dubbed ‘Black Thursday’, and its consequences spanned much of the globe.

There are some parallels to draw with our modern times, albeit not quite to the same devastating effect. Lingering consequences of the 2008 financial crash have mixed with post-Covid economic slumps and spiking living costs to leave many of us worse off.

In these penny-pinching times, some pearls of wisdom from our 1930s analogues have found fresh audiences, including a series of meals showcased by a woman who lived through the Depression.

Great Depression Cooking with Clara is a YouTube channel that featured author, chef and great-grandmother Clara as she recounted stories of her youth whilst demonstrating some recipes that saw her through the tough times of yesteryear.

The channel was active between 2007 and 2012, with Clara’s grandson behind the camera.

Clara was 91 years old when the channel started, and she sadly passed away aged 98 in 2013.

Her YouTube channel has proved an enduring legacy since then.

It’s first-ever featured meal showed Clara fashioning “the poor man’s meal” which she ate regularly during the Depression, consisting mostly of potatoes and hot dogs. While she sets about peeling the potatoes, she talks about how the Depression forced her “to quit high school” because she “couldn’t afford socks”.

She continued: "Couldn't afford anything to wear, but we survived. We all survived. We were all fat from eating potatoes.

"My father used to buy a sack of potatoes and we ate potatoes every day. Potatoes with pasta, potatoes fried, potatoes with eggs."

The video continues, showing Clara add a little bit of onion alongside the hot dogs, frying it all before serving it up.

Clara notes that “anything cheap” might get added to bulk it out, or maybe just for a bit of variety.

While it’s not the most high-nutrition meal, it’s certainly cheap to make, and it’s won some fresh acolytes in these financially fraught times.

"In this harsh economy, I just made the poor man's meal again for my family and they loved it!” said one of the channel’s fans. “It's January 21, 2024 and all these years later Clara is still in our hearts."

"When you think about it, it's really incredible,” said another in 2020. “It's almost as if Clara was preparing us for the hard times we would face in 2020 when she wouldn't be here to help in person. God bless this wonderful lady. She is missed very much."

Clara’s channel still has over 1 million subscribers, and its description reads: "She left us with her recipes and stories and hoped that they would continue to entertain and teach you and your future generations."

If you’re interested in buying Clara’s book, or a DVD compilation of some of her recipes, they’re available here.